Electromagnetic actuators for controlling flexible cantilever beams

Abstract

Electromagnetic actuators are very important for scientific and industrial applications. Their use may vary within a wide range of possibilities due to their most important feature: the ability to apply known and controllable forces to elements or structures without contact. In this article, an application within this range is analyzed: a proportional‐integral‐derivative (PID) controller is used with a pair of actuators to control the dynamic forced response of a flexible cantilever metallic beam and to keep it at a given reference position. In order to achieve this objective, both the actuators and the controller need to be adjusted. For the actuators, the main parameters evaluated consider mounting particularities, such as the differential assembly and the influence of the air‐gap distance over the magnetic flux density and the magnetic force provided. Next, a brief review of PID controllers is presented, highlighting 5 tuning methods, and their effects on relevant parameters of the electromagnetic system (such as the cutoff frequency). Finally, results focus on the comparative efficiency of the PID tuning methods to reduce the vibration amplitude of the beam bending modes. The results show that the Ziegler–Nichols modified for some‐overshoot and no‐overshoot methods are the best choices